The Harsh Reality of Animal Testing
“Think about spending your entire life like a prisoner, even though you have committed no crime.” This is a reality for animals in laboratories and is accompanied with feels of deprivation, isolation, and misery. In the United States the law allows different forms of animals to be burned, shocked, poisoned, isolated, starved, drowned, addicted to drugs, and brain damaged. No matter how painful or trivial, no experiment is prohibited and not one animal’s life is spared even when alternatives are available. Animal testing traces back to ancient times where physician scientists performed procedures on animals. These procedures were conducted to gain knowledge about the animals living functions. Today, the problem …show more content…
Physician scientists such as Aristotle and Herophilus performed various experiments on animals to discover the functions of living organisms. Aristotle once said, "animals lacked intelligence, and so the notions of justice and injustice did not apply to them”(Animal Testing - ProCon.org), meaning it was okay that scientists such as himself experiment on animals. Aristotle’s view is significant because it has led to the severity of animal testing and the reliance on animal subjects to increase. Additionally, during the ancient times, the dissection of living organisms was practiced on human criminals. Not only was this prohibited but this also led to the reliance on animal subjects. On the other hand, Theophrastus, a successor to Aristotle, thought that “objecting the vivisection of animals on the grounds that, like humans, they can feel pain, and causing pain to animals was an affront to the gods.” (Animal Testing - ProCon.org). This is noteworthy because it provides a different viewpoint on animal testing, opposing Aristotle. With these ideas present, the issue of animal testing became very controversial and complex. As time has progressed, it can be shown through the increase in animal testing that individuals have leaned towards Aristotle’s views. According to statistics, animal testing has grown expidentially through the test of time and has given no …show more content…
For example, a potential solution is that “Harvard’s Wyss Institute has created “organs-on-chips” that contain human cells grown in a state-of-the-art system to mimic the structure and function of human organs and organ systems.” (Alternatives). The Vitro petri dish mimics a breathing human lung and has human airway cells and membranes. This is important because it directly embodies human functions providing accurate results. In addition, studies have shown that “the chips have been shown to replicate human physiology, diseases, and drug responses more accurately than crude animal experiments do.” (Alternatives). This method of experimentation provides a cheaper, safer and more effective alternative to animal testing. Also, strict regulation is a possible solution to this issue. Currently, with only one law in place to regulate animal testing, the problem is widespread and is spreading more and more everyday. Companies bend the rules and abuse the nonexistent presence of regulation within industry, creating an excess in animal testing. With the implementation of stricter laws and policies regarding this issue, the problem will be less severe. To conclude, with these solutions in place, the problem of animal testing will be help significantly and hopefully someday cease to be an
“Think about spending your entire life like a prisoner, even though you have committed no crime.” This is a reality for animals in laboratories and is accompanied with feels of deprivation, isolation, and misery. In the United States the law allows different forms of animals to be burned, shocked, poisoned, isolated, starved, drowned, addicted to drugs, and brain damaged. No matter how painful or trivial, no experiment is prohibited and not one animal’s life is spared even when alternatives are available. Animal testing traces back to ancient times where physician scientists performed procedures on animals. These procedures were conducted to gain knowledge about the animals living functions. Today, the problem …show more content…
Physician scientists such as Aristotle and Herophilus performed various experiments on animals to discover the functions of living organisms. Aristotle once said, "animals lacked intelligence, and so the notions of justice and injustice did not apply to them”(Animal Testing - ProCon.org), meaning it was okay that scientists such as himself experiment on animals. Aristotle’s view is significant because it has led to the severity of animal testing and the reliance on animal subjects to increase. Additionally, during the ancient times, the dissection of living organisms was practiced on human criminals. Not only was this prohibited but this also led to the reliance on animal subjects. On the other hand, Theophrastus, a successor to Aristotle, thought that “objecting the vivisection of animals on the grounds that, like humans, they can feel pain, and causing pain to animals was an affront to the gods.” (Animal Testing - ProCon.org). This is noteworthy because it provides a different viewpoint on animal testing, opposing Aristotle. With these ideas present, the issue of animal testing became very controversial and complex. As time has progressed, it can be shown through the increase in animal testing that individuals have leaned towards Aristotle’s views. According to statistics, animal testing has grown expidentially through the test of time and has given no …show more content…
For example, a potential solution is that “Harvard’s Wyss Institute has created “organs-on-chips” that contain human cells grown in a state-of-the-art system to mimic the structure and function of human organs and organ systems.” (Alternatives). The Vitro petri dish mimics a breathing human lung and has human airway cells and membranes. This is important because it directly embodies human functions providing accurate results. In addition, studies have shown that “the chips have been shown to replicate human physiology, diseases, and drug responses more accurately than crude animal experiments do.” (Alternatives). This method of experimentation provides a cheaper, safer and more effective alternative to animal testing. Also, strict regulation is a possible solution to this issue. Currently, with only one law in place to regulate animal testing, the problem is widespread and is spreading more and more everyday. Companies bend the rules and abuse the nonexistent presence of regulation within industry, creating an excess in animal testing. With the implementation of stricter laws and policies regarding this issue, the problem will be less severe. To conclude, with these solutions in place, the problem of animal testing will be help significantly and hopefully someday cease to be an